Sydney Philharmonia Choirs Performs 'Mozart: Requiem & Revelations' at Sydney Town Hall in March

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs present a "love letter" to one of the world's most loved composers, in an exclusive one-off afternoon performance of Mozart: Requiem & Revelations, at Sydney Town Hall on Saturday March 19.

Inspired by Romeo Castellucci's acclaimed adaptation of Mozart's Requiem for the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence 2019 and Adelaide Festival 2020, this carefully curated program sees the artist's ultimate masterpiece interwoven with excerpts of music created across his lifetime

In a similar vein to the Choir's recent critically acclaimed Night of the Soul concert series for Sydney Festival 2022, Mozart: Requiem & Revelations will be experienced as a musical journey, traversing some of his earliest compositions through to his final masterpiece.

Mozart was a prolific composer and despite only living until the age of 35, created more than 600 works across virtually every classical musical genre including 41 symphonies and 22 operas, numerous concertos for piano, violin, horn, oboe and clarinet, string quartets, masses and minuets, leaving an incredible legacy to choose from.

So in curating this program Sydney Philharmonia Choirs' Artistic & Music Director Brett Weymark brought in reinforcement, collaborating with acclaimed Sydney composer, orchestrator and arranger Jessica Wells - renowned for her work across the classical, commercial and film music worlds, to assist with the orchestration.

From the opening plainchant through virtuosic a capella works and rich orchestral pieces, this 100-minute choral program runs the gamut of emotion, echoing the progress of Mozart's life, through to his passing.

The highly nuanced musical program, painstakingly created by Weymark and Wells to transport the audience along the way, illuminating with every change in key or mood, the use of voice and instrumentation, flowing effortlessly where needed and halting to highlight important elements of the story.

It's well known that Mozart's famous Requiem was left incomplete at his passing, and in creating the program for Mozart: Requiem & Revelations, Weymark sought to mark this tragic loss - of one of the most influential musical prodigies of all time - with a statement. For this he drew once again on Wells' talents, commissioning her to compose a short work that would pick up with a contemporary voice where Mozart left off.

Weymark says, "To the best of my knowledge Mozart intended to end the Lacrimosa with a fugue setting of the Amen but only about 16 bars of this part of his composition exist. We will perform this small with no doubt at where the pen stopped."

"It is at this point that Jessica's new work, Dolor ultimae melodiae (Grief of the last song), will be heard. Influenced by her vast knowledge of film and soundtracks this new piece provides a fitting end to Mozart's story - highlighting and amplifying the drama, anguish and beauty of his transcendent music with an expression of grief and regret."

"How do we reconcile an unfinished work that brings such solace to people with the actual circumstances in which it was written?" Weymark asks. "Ultimately with a lament for the composer himself."

With Weymark at the baton, his internationally acclaimed 140-strong Symphony Chorus, guest soloists Chloe Lankshear, Sally-Anne Russell, Andrew Goodwin, David Greco and the Sydney Philharmonia Orchestra, Mozart: Requiem & Revelations is a world-class production, offering a uniquely moving insight into the life to an inimitable genius, presented in the stunning surrounds of Sydney's iconic Town Hall.

The concert will open with the full company's performance of Deborah Cheetham and Matthew Doyle's Tarimi Nulay - Long time living here, a musical Acknowledgement of Country sung in the local Gadigal language, commissioned by the Choirs as part of their 2020 centenary celebrations. Since 2020, Tarimi Nulay - Long time living here, has been performed live at many of Sydney Philharmonia's concerts - sometimes a cappella, at others with musicial accompaninment, continuing to evolve with each new iteration.

Bookings for Mozart: Requiem & Revelations are now open at sydneyphilharmonia.com.au/concerts/2022season/mozart/.

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